ALAN PARDEW faces Jobi McAnuff tonight for the first time since selling him to Cardiff City - and the West Ham chief told the winger, "I didn't want you to leave Upton Park."

McAnuff found himself heading to South Wales last August after the Bluebirds agreed a £300,000 fee with the Hammers. The Londoner made only 14 outings for West Ham after joining them from Wimbledon last February and 10 of those were as a substitute. But Pardew said the player was sold only to raise the cash needed to bring in new defenders.

His mission to bolster the Hammers defence became even more urgent when Christian Dailly suffered a knee injury.

"The truth of it is that I didn't want to sell Jobi. I felt he could have become a first-team regular," said Pardew, who brings his West Ham side to Ninian Park for a mouth-watering league showdown.

"The bottom line was I needed a couple of defenders. Christian's injury compounded the issue so Jobi had to be sacrificed."

When Pardew paid Wimbledon (now Milton Keynes Dons) the same amount last February to take McAnuff to east London, he hailed the 22-year-old as a player "West Ham fans are going to enjoy".

But six months later McAnuff was playing for the Bluebirds after the Hammers had agreed to sell him to their Championship rivals.

With West Ham saddled with a debt of more than £30m, Pardew was not given any funds to strengthen his squad during the summer. McAnuff, who was not involved in West Ham's play-off final defeat against Crystal Palace last May, was deemed expendable since Pardew already had Marlon Harewood and Sergei Rebrov.

The former Reading manager insists he was forced to sell the ex-Wimbledon star.

"Jobi is a great prospect and a confident lad. He was a player who really wanted to come to West Ham and that appealed to me," he said.

"He's got fantastic speed and unlocks doors. He causes defences a problem when he travels with the ball quickly. Since coming to West Ham Jobi is the only player I've bought and subsequently sold, and that's because I needed the money to strengthen the squad in other areas."

After McAnuff left, Pardew signed two centre-backs - Malky Mackay from Norwich for £600,000 and Calum Davenport on a three-month loan from Tottenham.

Mackay, however, misses the Bluebirds clash with a calf injury, as does veteran striker Teddy Sheringham (thigh), former Wales defender Andy Melville (hamstring) and Dailly (knee).